While kayaking down a waterway on a balmy day, I noticed stately, 15-foot-tall reeds with fluffy tops lining the banks in thick stands. Waving majestically in the breeze, these reeds would surely part to reveal a pyramid or two. But no, this was not the Nile River. It was Harpswell’s Long Reach, tucked between the marshes off Mountain Road. Phragmites australis, an invasive plant native to Eurasia, had taken a foothold and begun the process of colonizing the area.
Phragmites reeds send out horizontal underground rhizomes that form new roots, then send shoots upward to reach the light and support the new plants. This method of propagation is highly successful, as it quickly forms a new colony. The plant also reproduces by seed. This nonnative reed prefers to grow in marshland, in both fresh and brackish water. These tall plants can even absorb significant moisture from fog and rain.
Phragmites was an invaluable resource for early civilizations in Eurasia, being used as thatch for houses and material for mats, papermaking, basketry and sandals. It also was used as fodder for cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. It is still used as thatch for cottages in the English Cotswolds.
Here in the United States, phragmites is beneficial to a limited degree. It stabilizes sediment, reduces erosion and conserves soil. It has been used to filter toxins out of wastewater. Phragmites can offer some food and habitat for birds, insects and mammals.
But for the most part, this plant is detrimental to domestic habitats. It competes with native wetland grasses and squeezes them out by forming dense, almost impenetrable mats of vegetation, which block sunlight and monopolize nutrients.
Phragmites australis is almost impossible to control or eradicate once established. It takes over huge areas of boggy lowland. Its resilience is impressive. The tenacious rhizomes resist being pulled, dredged, drowned or burned, all expensive and minimally successful remediations.
Chemical controls work best, but as the plant grows in marshy areas, application of herbicides is prohibited in many locations, including Harpswell. The stalks can be repeatedly cut in a timely fashion to starve the roots. This method has had some success, but it takes years. Biological control by insects or goats is being tested.
The Harpswell Invasive Plant Partnership, which works to protect beautiful native flora from invasives like multiflora rose, bittersweet and Japanese knotweed, is now gearing up to confront this most formidable of foes. With numerous freshwater and brackish marshes, Harpswell provides perfect habitat for the reed to colonize.
If you don’t mind sloshing about in rubber boots to cut stems, please join us this year as we begin a blitz against the plant that might be HIPP’s greatest challenge yet.
For more information about HIPP and phragmites, visit hippmaine.org.
